Cost/Project Controls Manager

Kelly is currently seeking an experienced Cost/Project Controls Manager professional with a strong background in capital projects, engineering, construction, or EPC environments to join a leading team in the Houston, Texas area! This role is focused on project cost management for capital projects. The ideal candidate will be responsible for forecasting, accruals, cost reporting, variance analysis, and providing financial visibility to project leadership teams. This is not an accounting or bookkeeping position.

Candidates should have hands-on experience with forecasting, accruals, cost reporting, and variance analysis, along with strong SAP skills. The successful candidate must be able to operate independently, communicate effectively with project leadership, and provide accurate financial oversight throughout the project lifecycle.

The Cost Manager acts as a technical resource for Cost Management within the Global Project Methodology (GPM) work process. This role supports establishment of the overall cost baseline with reporting to monitor and control the project within established tolerances of the baseline supporting cost effective project execution, and coordinates data inputs from the various disciplines and functions to ensure accurate forecasts and reporting of cost. The Cost Manager will also engage the project steering team to understand causes of the deviation and the need to establish actions to mitigate, where deviations from established tolerances occur. This position requires in-depth conceptual and practical knowledge in own job discipline and basic knowledge of related job disciplines.

Responsibilities:

• Integrates the project cost estimate, workhour estimate, and project schedule into the Cost Management baseline.
• Establishes cost baseline from which deviations will be managed during project execution.
• Establishes work breakdown structure based upon work process norms and execution strategy.
• Develops and maintains cost reports, cash flow cancellation curves, and contingency analyses. Ensures accurate representation of cost data and cost forecast in monthly reporting.
• Provides estimate of cancellation costs.
• Estimates costs of deviations and assesses impact on total project cost.
• Ensures accurate reflection of committed spent funds, project deviation notices, field change orders, and project execution changes in all cost documents.
• Leads the project team in deriving an accurate and realistic forecast of all funds required to complete the project within the defined budget and schedule while incorporating own trending and analyses.
• Alerts the project team to critical Cost Management issues.
• Provides supporting data for project execution metrics, external benchmarking and project closure.
• Gather and analyze project cost data from multiple sources.
• Develop and maintain project cost forecasts.
• Prepare monthly accruals and cost reports.
• Monitor project spending, commitments, and cash flow.
• Analyze actual costs against forecasts and explain variances.
• Track change orders and budget impacts.
• Present financial updates and cost performance reports to project teams and leadership.
• Support project controls activities throughout the project lifecycle.

Required Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree plus cost management, project controls or other related experience preferred. In lieu of degree, equivalent years of experience required.
• Several years of experience in project cost management or project controls.
• Strong forecasting and budgeting experience.
• Experience preparing accruals and analyzing project financial performance.
• Ability to work independently with minimal training.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present findings to project stakeholders.

Preferred Experience:

• EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) industry experience.
• Capital project or industrial project experience.
• Experience supporting large engineering or construction programs.
• Familiarity working with Project Managers, Engineers, Construction Managers, and Project Controls teams.
• Systems Experience
• SAP experience is highly preferred.
• Ecosys experience is a plus.
• Strong Excel and reporting skills.

10441963